How to Brush and Floss

The most important part of dental care is down to you. Brushing your teeth twice daily insures for healthier teeth and gums. And if you dread the dentist's chair then the best treatment is prevention.

Plaque is a major cause of cavities. It is a transparent layer of bacteria that coast the teeth. Brushing your teeth will remove the plaque build up. You can also floss once a day to insure that all plaque is removed, even where the brush cannot reach. Brushing stimulates the gums too, which keep the gums healthy and prevent gum disease.

Always make sure that your toothpaste contains fluoride. This is the most common ingredient in toothpaste and it prevents cavities.

Tartar is plaque but in a hardened form. One in ten people find that tartar accumulates on their teeth. Using anti-tartar toothpastes can target this problem as well as spending a little extra time brushing in front of the saliva glades.

If you have sensitive teeth, talk to your dentist about the best way to overcome this problem, It may be as simple as changing your toothpaste to a special, sensitive toothpaste.

Top tips on brushing:

• Use a good quality rechargeable electric tooth brush. Hold the brush at 90% to the gum line. Use circular motion and medium pressure. If using a hand brush use as small circles as possible.
• Stick to a system when brushing so that you do not miss any teeth. Spend 3-4 minutes brushing 2 times per day.
• Concentrate on what you can feel. If you cannot feel the bristles getting between the teeth and into the gum line you are probably missing the most important area to clean.
• Floss or use interdental brushes once or twice a day.
• A good technique for flossing is to: take a long piece of floss [about shoulders width]. Hold between thumb and forefinger. Wind floss around both forefingers just above the nail untill you are left with a short lengh of floss of 1 inch [sometimes needs adjusting to get the lengh right]. Now you can floss around the whole mouth with only 2 fingers on your mouth [it's rather hard to get your whole fist in]. Slide the floss up and down the tooth on each side of each gap. With practice it becomes easy.